Being confident that I have given each student the best opportunity for the best education every day of the school year would be a great way to end each year as a teacher. How do you do that, though, year end and year out? A combination of many factors makes a great teacher.
First, be proud of the teaching profession itself. Being a teacher is a career with great intrinsic reward. It is a job that is credentialed by universities and colleges and respected by members of your community. The teaching profession allows one the chance to not just receive the benefit of employment, but also allows one the opportunity to positively affect lives.
Maintaining a high level of professionalism will help to make you a great teacher. How you look, write, talk and work reflect on yourself, your administration and your school. A teacher should be the best role model for a good work ethic for all students. Being punctual, appearing professionally dressed, using correct and appropriate grammar when writing and talking and respecting co-workers creates an example of professionalism that your students will always remember.
Being a life-long learner of new and innovative ideas, creating lessons that are expressive and interesting and continuing a passion for your chosen content area will help to make you the best teacher that you can be. You can work on this daily by reading professional journals, being open to new technology and modeling teachers that are successful will help to make you a better teacher.
Lastly, treating students with respect and compassion is crucial to being successful in the classroom. Students deserve teachers that view them with no preconceived ideas, no discerning manner and no personal agenda. Treat students respectfully and in most cases the respect will be returned.
Strive to be accountable to yourself first, and then be accountable to your students. The teacher that makes a concerted effort every day to positively affect the lives of students will in most cases be successful.
About Me . . .
Hello, my name is Haley Mills. I am an aspiring physical education teacher in my Junior year at South Alabama. I hope to graduate in May of 2011. I am looking forward to working in the field of physical education as I enjoyed physical activity and sports during school and I would like to help my future students feel the same way. I have found in my courses that education is a very involved career choice. At South, I have taken courses that will help with classroom management skills as well as learning about my content area.
